Envy
by tikvarn
Summary: "So sometimes she was envious of Andy McNally. But that was okay, because right then, Andy McNally was envious of her for a change." Gail Peck. Part one of the FicTacToe challenge.


_Author's Note: And so begins the FicTacToe challenge! If you haven't read about how the challenge works yet, go to either my profile or whitter's profile for details. Hope you enjoy reading the stories as much as we enjoy writing them! _

_Disclaimer: If I owned Rookie Blue, do you really think Luke and Andy would be moving in together?_

**Envy. **

"Okay, so… any preferences?" She'd asked him, settling down at the bar.

"No," he'd said with a grin. "Lady's choice." Of course, always the charmer.

"Ooohh…" She'd considered her decision for a moment, "Tequila!" She'd yelled, laughing.

"That's what I'm talking about!"

And even though he put a brave face on, even though he'd laughed and smiled at her, she knew his mind wasn't on drinking with her that night.

She watched him, watching her. He may have thought he was being discrete, but any idiot off the street could see it in the way his eyes widened and his mouth tightened. And she was no idiot.

She watched as he caught sight of them after downing the first shot. Playing it off, he'd looked over at her and grinned, asking if she wanted another.

Of course she did. So they'd ordered another and sat in companionable silence waiting for it to come. The other couple was across the bar and the look on his face when he saw them together physically pained her, and that wasn't something she was used to.

She was Gail Peck. She didn't care about other people and she certainly didn't care that some training officer had it bad for some rookie. Some rookie that was currently is some detective's arms.

She didn't care, at least that was what she told herself.

But she did. Because he wasn't just some training officer and she wasn't just some rookie.

She would never admit it to ANYONE, but part of her was envious of Andy McNally.

Let's be honest, the girl had some issues. Her dad was an alcoholic train wreck and her mom had taken off during the middle of the night when she was a kid and started a whole new family somewhere else. When you compared that upbringing to one with two educated, professional, successful parents, there really wasn't a competition.

But Andy was nice and even fairly competent sometimes, when she wasn't running around screwing everything up. Everyone liked Andy. Sure, all the training officers treated them like they were idiots, but it was obvious that everyone had a soft spot for the brown eyed girl, for Tom McNally's daughter. When they were little and her parents hosted the annual Christmas Party, she would be dressed up in an expensive party gown her mother bought her and she'd see Andy running around in some frock she probably picked up from Goodwill. Even then, everyone would laugh and smile with Andy, their eyes lighting up when Andy talked to them.

Andy was gentle and warm and good. The exact opposite of the frosty, ice-queen, bitch-on-wheels act that she had perfected so long ago.

So even though she would never admit it, even though she would deny it until the grave, sometimes she wished people would look at her the way they looked at Andy.

Sometimes she wished someone would look at her the way he was looking at Andy.

And if someone did ever look at her that way, she certainly wouldn't ignore it the way that Andy was trying to.

She saw the first time Andy noticed them sitting together, when she was talking to Callaghan and had seen them over his shoulder. Andy's eyes had stayed on them for a second too long, but it was all she needed to see it. See the slight flash of irritation, of jealousy maybe, that had darkened her eyes. Blinking quickly, Andy looked away from them and back to Callaghan, smiling up at him.

With Andy tucked under his am, Callaghan signaled the bartender for four drinks and then acknowledged them from across the bar.

God, she hated that guy.

She supposed he was the kind of guy that she should find attractive. He was handsome, no doubt, and he did what it took to get the job done. He had risen quickly through the ranks, something that she should have found admirable. There wasn't anything wrong with him, per say, but right then, as he tossed a cocky grin over at them with a hand raised, she hated him.

And if the way that Callaghan had grinned over at them with his arm around Andy pissed her off, she couldn't imagine what it did to the man sitting next to her.

"You okay?" She asked, and in typical Swarek fashion he'd responded with an easy, "Yep, great. You?"

Deflecting, as usual.

All she knew was that she wanted the damn, unfamiliar ache in the pit of her stomach to go away, and she knew it wouldn't if they kept sitting there. "Can we get some air?" She asked, the question coming out of nowhere.

"Sure," he agreed, because even though he was hurting, he took care of people and did whatever they needed.

But maybe, just maybe, he wanted to get out of there as much as she did.

And he'd paid for her drinks, because he was Sam Swarek and despite the fact that she knew he had no romantic interest in her whatsoever, he was a gentleman, and a gentleman never let a lady pay.

He'd tossed one last smile over at Andy, who didn't acknowledge it, before putting a hand on the small of her back and guiding her out of the bar.

He hadn't seen the way that Andy had stared after them, or the look that was in her eye when she watched him with another woman. He hadn't seen it, but she did.

So sometimes she was envious of Andy McNally. But that was okay, because right then, as she walked out of the door held open by a smiling Sam Swarek, Andy McNally was envious of her for a change.


End file.
